Fifth-wheel



(No Modei.)

L. D. HASKELL, Jr. FIFTH WHEEL. No. 288,799. "PMentedNOWZO, 1883 UNITED STATES PATE T Fries.

- LUTHER D. HASKELL, JR, OF BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS.

FIFTH-WHEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters r atent No. 288,799, dated November 20, 1883. Application filed February 2,1583. (No model.)

To all. whom it may concern Be it known that I, LUTHER D. HASKELL, Jr., of Beverly, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in FifthlVheels for Carriages, of which the following is a description sufficiently full, clear, and exact to enable any person skilled in the art or science to which said invention appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation, showing the fifth-wheel in use; Fig. 2, a top plan view, and Fig. 3 a vertical transverse section.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures of the drawings.

In carriages provided with the ordinary fiftl1- wheel, when the linchpin is thrown out or becomes displaced, the body of the carriage is liable to be detached from the forward axle, the fifth-wheel not affording any effective means of locking the same together in case of accident. They also permit the carriage to rock to a greater extent than is desirable, or, in many instances, safe.

My invention is designed to obviate these and other objections, and to that end 'I make use of means which will be readily understood by all conversant with such matters from the following explanation, the extreme simplicity of the invention rendering an elaborate description unnecessary.

Inthe drawings,A represents the fifth-wheel, B the bolster, C the spring, and D the axle; but as all of these parts, except the fifth-wheel, are of ordinary construction, a minute description of the same is deemed unnecessary.

The fifth wheel proper is made in two sections, and consists of the semicircular body a, to which the bolster B is attached, and a correspondingly-shaped. bed-plate, d, supported on the standards m, by which it is secured to the axle or axle-bolster. The upper and lower sections are dovetailed together, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the body a being grooved or rabbeted on its lower side to receive the rabbet formed on the upper side of the bed d, which is fitted to work freely in the groove.

The fifth-wheel forms the arc of a true circle, so that when its two sections are coupled together, as shown, the body will revolve or slide freely on the bed in a manner which will be readily understood without a more explicit description.

It will be obvious that when a carriage is provided with my improved fifth-wheel the body of the carriage cannot be disconnected from the forward wheels or axle without first uncoupling the sections a (1, thereby greatly may also be omitted and the bed d secured to the cap or bolster on the axle, or directly to the axle, if desired.

In my improved fifth-wheel the circular plates are preferably so constructed as to extend through slightly more than half a circle, as the plates, when thus constructed, cannot be readily separated from each other, and there is suflicient spring or elasticity in the metal to enable them to be put together without injury.

Having thus explained my invention, what I claim is- Afifth-wheel consisting of two curved plates forming arcs of circles and extending through more than half a circle, the lower plate being provided with a continuous dovetailed tongue extending from end to end thereof, and the upper plate with a corresponding dovetail groove, substantially as described.

LUTHER D. HASKELL, JR.

lVitnesses:

. O. A. SHAW,

L. J. WHITE. 

